Sticky Note
by absolutefiction
Summary: Natsu Dragneel returns to public school after a being a home schooled kid for most of his life. But, unfortunately for the pink-haired teen, high school's not all it's cracked up to be. But when anonymous sticky notes appear on his locker, showering him in encouragements and cute messages, Natsu thinks it can't be all that bad. [High school AU/One shot]


Natsu sighed for what felt like the nine thousand eight hundred and seventy sixth time that day. It had been one of those days and the pink-haired teen could not wait to push through those front doors and get the hell out of dodge.

Why did he think going back to public school would be such a good idea?

To be fair, the epic inspirational speech his father had given him had been rather convincing. But looking back, Natsu realized he should not have underestimated the culture shock of finding himself slammed into lockers and just trying to meander his way through the hallways to get from class to class. It was a far cry from his experiences as a homeschooled kid that was for sure. Natsu vaguely remembered attending elementary school in a public school setting but the kids had been only half the height of how big the students were now in high school.

Slamming his locker door shut, Natsu sighed for the nine thousand eight hundred and seventy seventh time, shouldering his backpack which was now fully loaded with his textbooks and the mountain of homework all of his teachers decided to assign for tomorrow.

However, just as he was about to make his way home, the boy noticed a bright flash of neon yellow out of the corner of his eye. Looking back at his locker, Natsu saw what had caught his eye: a yellow sticky note. His eyes scanned it over, noting the neat and neat and tidy style of the writing (probably a girl's writing?) before reading the message.

"_Your hair is really cool."_

Natsu blinked, unconsciously reaching up to comb a hand through said (cool) hair. Was this note for him? Who wrote it? Was his hair really all that cool enough to write a sticky note about it? It was bright pink and classmates throughout the day had made enough comments to the point that Natsu felt overly conscientious about it for the first time in his life.

Maybe it was a mistake; could have been an easy accident, placing the sticky note on the wrong locker. It didn't even have his name on it.

But Natsu still found himself stealing the sticky note before making his way home with a shrug.

* * *

Natsu was currently writing a mental diary entry, regarding this as a better day than yesterday (only having sighed eight thousand nine hundred and thirty fives instead of the nine thousand eight hundred and seventy seventh times yesterday) as he made it to his locker to collect his things.

Science had been tough but luckily for him there hadn't been any partner work or he'd have had to struggle finding someone willing enough to partner with 'bubble gum boy'. Gym class, he was quickly realizing, was more or less just standing around awkwardly as kids paired up for stretches and then not getting past to during games even though he was clearly open.

The boy used all of his will power not to sigh at that last memory. His new nickname was not appreciated either.

But just as he went to unlock his locker, his eyes fell upon a sticky note. Natsu realized quickly it held a similar style of writing as the day before (the one which was currently plastered onto his mirror back home in his bedroom). Grabbing it and tearing it off the door of his locker, Natsu quickly read it over.

"_Your smile is adorable. You should show it off more often."_

The boy seemed to be a sucker for cheap compliments because he felt the sudden curl of his lips and the beginnings of a smile with a matching blush to boot. Shaking his head and glancing around the empty halls, Natsu decided this was getting weird. He still couldn't say for sure that these sticky notes were dedicated to him specifically.

But that didn't stop him from pocketing this one too.

* * *

This was getting to be a bit ridiculous, Natsu thought as he stared dumbfounded at yet another sticky note. This had to be, what, the tenth one now? They had eventually become so specific and coincidental that there was no way Natsu thought they weren't for him anymore. They had messaged ranging from 'your pink hair looks so soft' to 'your green eyes remind me of spring'. Each one progressively making him blush more and more.

Each of them seemed to time with the end of the school day and had become something he looked forward to, racing to his locker a little quicker than before to read his next note.

And try to catch his secret admirer in the act.

But alas, after a couple weeks of this, Natsu still had yet to narrow down who his sticky note admirer could possibly be. Unfortunately for him, being a new kid and all did not exactly give him a large basis of people to sift through.

Sighing for only the one thousand four hundred and fifty second time that day, Natsu swiped away at the sticky note. He would have to find a new spot to put this one now, what with his mirror already covered in them and all.

* * *

"Okay class, find yourself a partner and get to work on today's assignment."

At the sound of his history teacher's voice, Natsu abruptly woke up, startled that he had fallen asleep in the first place. But after considering he only got a measly few hours of sleep the previous night after dorking out to the latest release of 'Dragon Chronicles', his favourite comic book, Natsu decided that falling asleep during class was almost to be expected.

But now came the next problem: did his teacher say 'partners'?

Natsu glanced around and saw that the majority of his classmates had already paired off and were beginning whatever assignment they were meant to do. It was then that Natsu noted the sheet of loose leaf paper sitting on his desk that was obviously passed out. Grabbing it and giving it a quick skim confirmed the pink-haired teen's suspicious.

He had no idea what they were supposed to be doing.

"Hey, you don't by chance need a partner do you?"

Natsu was startled from his growing panic by a sweet, melodious voice. Looking up, his eyes widened, captivated by the beauty before him. Her blonde locks, gracefully curling along the edges of her shoulders as her honey brown eyes glanced nervously from side to side, waiting anxiously for his response.

The boy dumbly shook his head and grumbled out a quick no before asking, "You want to be my partner?"

The smile she sent his way almost stopped his heart right there, "Of course."

Before he could even get out another word, she was quickly pulling over an empty desk nearby. His blush luckily went undetected as she pulled the desk right next to his and sat down, "So, let's get started then, shall we?"

Her voice was so sweet, her smile so happy that Natsu had to fight extra hard to focus on the words she was actually saying, "Uhh..."

"I'm Lucy, by the way, nice to meet you, Natsu," the blonde reached out her hand as if to ask for a handshake as she beamed at him.

He tentatively grabbed it and she shook it before letting go, "You know my name?"

Lucy blinked and, if the boy had not been already concerned with his sanity in the presence of such an angel, he might have missed the slight blush that graced her cheeks, "Uhh, well I mean, we're in a lot of classes together...it's not that weird, right?"

He dumbly nodded, "That's fair, I guess. Sorry I don't know your name though…"

"No worries at all," She smiled, "So, wanna get this assignment over with?"

"I'd love to but," Natsu embarrassingly rubbed the back of his neck, looking away, "I might've been sleeping when the teacher explained what we're supposed to do."

That's when she laughed and Natsu felt the world come to a startling halt. His stomach was filled with grasshoppers, or moths, or whatever fluttery jumpy insect it was supposed to be filled with. The gently lilt and bubbly happiness this girl shined with was almost too much for the poor boy and his heart. Natsu never realized how second nature breathing had been now that he had to conscientiously think through each breathe he took in her presence.

Lucy finally stopped giggling, realizing he might take it the wrong way before scrambling through her notebook, "Uhh, I have some notes if you want to borrow them and copy them down? Once you read them over, I'm sure the assignment will make more sense."

Grabbing the notes from her, Natsu blushed, "Uhh, thanks and sorry."

"No need to be sorry," she giggled and decided to go ahead and see what she could get done on her own.

The boy took a deep breath to calm his skyrocketing heartbeat before taking a look at the notes she so kindly lent him. His eyes immediately widened, taking in the almost painfully familiar handwriting that graced the lined sheets of paper. Natsu blinked and rubbed his eyes before looking it over again. Nope, he was not mistaken; this definitely had to be an exact match to the sticky notes he had been finding stuck to his locker this past month.

Natsu gulped, eyeballing the blonde next to him, who was eagerly getting her homework done, none the wiser to Natsu's deductive skills. The pink-haired teen knew the facts pointed to Lucy, but the rest of his head and heart couldn't quite wrap themselves around the fact that she would write them to begin with? He didn't even know her name two minutes ago let alone know her well enough for her to pay him any mind.

"Uhh," he began, grabbing her attention as he showed her the notes she lent him, "this is your writing, right?"

Lucy cocked her head to the side almost comically, raising an eyebrow, "Umm, yea? They're my notes after all."

Natsu frowned, scratching his head with his free hand, his confusion mounting. How did he approach this situation? Did he just straight up ask her if she was the culprit to his sticky note problem? Or did he just move along and assume that it couldn't possibly be her after all. I mean, she was some kind of wonderful. Why on earth would she have any interest in 'bubble gum boy'? Gathering his confidence, Natsu gulped and was about to ask her something when he noticed her eyes still on him along with a super noticeable blush covering her cheeks.

Suddenly Lucy snatched her notes back from him, mumbling that she had to go to the bathroom, and stood to leave him, notes in tow. Natsu blinked stupidly before standing as well, following her out the class and ignoring the teacher's protests. Luckily for him, said history teacher didn't follow him out into the hallway either, as Natsu chased after the blonde, "Luigi, wait!"

"It's Lucy!"

Natsu managed to catch up to her in her apparent fury over his mistaking her name, grabbing her wrist to keep her from escaping again, "Wait up."

She was still blushing madly but clung to the notes as if they had become the biggest secret of all time. Natsu was beginning to put two and two together; he wasn't that much of an idiot, despite whatever his father would tell him, "Lucy, did you…umm, happen to write a bunch of sticky notes lately? By any chance?"

Lucy visibly froze at that, glancing down before returning her gaze to Natsu's, "What…what makes you say that?"

"Cause your writing…" Natsu finished lamely, why was she avoiding this and making it so hard.

The blonde sighed, also realizing this was getting to be a bit ridiculous now that it was obvious who the author of the sticky notes had been her all this time, "Fine, you caught me."

Natsu had a million questions to ask but one was already falling off his lips before he could stop himself, "Why?"

The blonde was blushing again, "Well, I…uhh…" she was nervously looking from side to side again, almost trying to find an escape, but then she sighed, "You…well, you always looked sad and, I don't know, I wanted to cheer you up somehow. And then, well…I kinda got carried away and the rest is history."

Natsu blinked and then found himself smiling a little, "Weirdo."

Lucy's blush went from embarrassment to rage, "Weirdo? Who's the weirdo? I was being nice, but if you're gonna go and be ungrateful-"

"But thanks," Natsu smiled, ignoring her rant.

The blonde abruptly stopped and blushed, "Uhh, you're welcome."

Realizing that Natsu still held her wrist in his grip, the pink-haired boy dropped it and rubbed his neck, "We should probably get back to that homework though, huh?"

Lucy blushed but giggled at that, "Yea, probably a good idea."

And with that, the pair returned to their history classroom. But from that day forward, Natsu never received another sticky note again. He didn't need them anymore, not when the author of said sticky notes was there to keep him company at the end of each and every school day.

* * *

**A/N: **Just a cute one shot idea I got while at my desk at work today. It's more written for myself because writing for my other story, Enigma, can be somewhat bleh lol writing horror scenes and such can be surprisingly draining. I needed a pointless fluffy thing. Hope you like it! Happy Weekend!


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